Somehow along the way we had been managing to overcome a number of challenges throughout the trip, and one of those was Shelley’s fall. She was wearing a sling on her right arm and was reliant on pain medication to get through each day, but we were still able to continue on with our plans for the most part.

When it came to Mykonos, however, my original plan was to take a small sailboat excursion (basically a private tour) from Mykonos to Delos and Rhenia Island (a nearby uninhabited island with beaches). We intended to visit the archaeological site of Delos on our own and then snorkel, swim and lounge on the beach at Rhenia for a couple hours.

The problem was it wasn’t a very easy tour to do now that she was injured. The boat would dock at Delos, but it would not dock at Rhenia Island. She would need to climb in and out of the boat, something I knew she could no longer do. Besides that, the Aegean Sea was choppy as the winds were picking up and we’d certainly have to hang on to the boat in rough seas.

Strangely, we got a blessing in disguise. The tour operator contacted us the night before to tell us that he would not be running our tour at the reserved time and we would have to take a late afternoon tour. Since we were on a cruise, that was not possible. We then contacted Viator and were able to cancel with a full refund since we were unable to continue with the originally planned tour.

So what now? The cruise ship had a guided tour of Delos still available to book. Taking this tour would mean no beach time or snorkeling, but it was a little less expensive and we’d have a guided tour of Delos. As I mentioned earlier, having a guided tour of ruins really helps in interpreting and understanding them.

So we booked the ship excursion to Delos the night before and were set for the next day.

Arrival in Mykonos

Mykonos has an Old Port and a New Port. The cruise ships dock at the New Port, which is about a mile away from the Old Port where the ferries depart for Delos, and where the historic town is accessible.

Since we booked through the cruise ship the transfer ferry ride from the New Port to the Old Port was taken care of for us. Sometimes it’s just easier to use the ship’s excursion in certain places.

Once we arrived at the Old Port we disembarked and walked over to the ferry that would transfer us to Delos. It was a larger ferry that could hold a couple hundred passengers. It was fortunately not full (we would end up being the first ship to arrive in Delos that day), but I was glad it was a substantial ship nonetheless.

The Aegean Sea was very rough on the crossing and the big boat was rocking quite a lot. The Cyclades Islands are known for being windy and Mykonos was thus far not disappointing. The winds were actually something of a relief though because the prior two days had been stifling and a bit of wind felt good once we were on land. As the day went along the wind and the seas did subside quite a bit.

When we arrived at Delos I was surprised, but glad, to see we were the first visitors to the archaeological site. Usually the group tours arrive after the smaller private tours, but the ship’s excursion was already showing itself to be well-organized and worth the cost.

Delos Archaeological Site

We had been traveling backward in time since the start of the trip and now that we were in Delos we were in a place that was occupied from as far back as 1400 BC, but whose heyday occurred primarily between 500 and 200 BC.

Delos is a special place amongst all the ancient sites of Greece. The island held important religious, political and cultural value to the ancient Greeks,  far beyond what you might suppose possible for a small island that had no natural water sources beyond rainfall.

Delos was the ceremonial birthplace of the twins Artemis and Apollo. It was also considered the center spoke in the Cyclades Islands, since it was located in the middle of the other islands on the map.

Our guide was incredibly knowledgeable and walked us through the site explaining the history of Delos along the way. We were first led to the ruins of homes that were once owned by wealthy residents around 200 BC. The mosaics above depict a tiger and a dolphin with a trident.

Next we saw the cisterns that supplied water to the residents. To this day they still collect rainwater.

As we continued we arrived at the theater. Only the front row seats remained intact but it was fun to sit together in the place where the ancient Greeks once came to enjoy a performance or discuss civic life. The theater was the center of Greek society.

While the theater was the center of Greek social life, the religious and cultural center of Delos was closer to the port. Here, massive temples were built to honor Apollo. The temples are largely gone now, but some restoration work is continuing to save and reconstruct what remains at at the site.

Numerous cats also make Delos their home. They were eager to make friends, but we wisely avoided touching them if we could. We don’t need to risk getting bitten by an unvaccinated cat.

Finally we arrived at the Colonnade of the Lions before being given about 15 minutes to explore the site on our own. Daniel and I made a quick trek to toward the central peak to get a closer look at some distant temples.

We really enjoyed the trip to Delos and especially the narration from the tour guide. Again, I really don’t think a visit to Delos without a guide is a good idea unless you really have a good map and a solid understanding of the site.

Old Town Mykonos

Rather than taking the ferry back to the New Port and the ship, we opted to stay in the Old Town area to enjoy lunch and see historic Mykonos. Certainly we were in no hurry and we could take a bus on the opposite side of the port back to the ship.

Old Town Mykonos was a very attractive place with winding corridors of white-washed buildings and windmills set up on the surrounding hills. We wandered a bit until we found a place to grab a Greek lunch, then did some souvenir shopping.

We enjoyed our morning in Delos and found Mykonos to be a pretty island. I have to admit though that the souvenirs for sale were not always the most family-friendly. We were constantly advising our 11-year-old not to comment on something he saw for sale or on display.

Mykonos was the last port stop on our cruise. The following day would take us to Athens for two days in the great capital of Classical and modern Greece.